Tag Archives: Jeremiah Herman

Pulitzers Play Little Rock: CTLR’s production of RENT

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CTLR RentJonathan Larson’s through-sung updated La Boheme was an instant success from its first Off Broadway preview.  Unfortunately with his death that day, Larson never enjoyed the success.  After a long Broadway run, the rights were made available for other productions.

Though not the first to present Rent in Little Rock, the Community Theatre of Little Rock closed out its 58th season in 2014 with a production of this winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

The cast included Michael Goodbar, Ryan Whitfield, Charles Holloway, Jeremiah Herman, Angel Monroe, Brittany Sparkles, Kelsey Padilla, Jess Carson, David Weatherly, Courtney Williams, Douglas Hammon, Elijah Ash, Manny Urban, Brian Christopher Roberson, Robert Warner, Claudia Moskova-Cremeens, Ashley McPhearson, Vivian Murray-Colyer, Nichole Henry, Allison Bode, Courtney Speyer, Makayla Ealy, and Beth Ross.

The production was directed by Frank O. Butler.  Matthew Tatus was the Music Director, while the producers were Liz Clark and Jerry Woods.

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama being given. To pay tribute to 100 years of the Pulitzer for Drama, each day this month a different Little Rock production of a Pulitzer Prize winning play will be highlighted.  Many of these titles have been produced numerous times.  This look will veer from high school to national tours in an attempt to give a glimpse into Little Rock’s breadth and depth of theatrical history.

This Weekend only – Pagans on Bobsleds XXV! as only Red Octopus can bring it!

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Red Octopus Theater presents Pagans on Bobsleds is XXV! A holiday tradition for many, Red Octopus theater is proud to present Pagans on Bobsleds XXV!

Pagans on Bobsleds XXV! will be performed December 8, 9, 10, 2016 at The PUBLIC Theater, 616 Center St., in downtown Little Rock. Shows will start at 8PM and doors will open at 7:30PM. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens, students & active military and veterans. No reservations are necessary and there will be refreshments available. The show is recommended for mature audiences, child tickets are $496.  (If you tell them Jason Willey sent you, you might get a kid in for a discounted price of $377.)

Pagans on Bobsleds started twenty-five years ago by a bunch of a actors, writers, artists and plain weirdos looking to do something that wasn’t happening in the local arts scene. Since then, this yearly cacophony of holiday themed sketch comedy has become a tradition not only for the members of Red Octopus, but for many of their fans. Through the years, the Pagans On Bobsleds cast has included over 100 different actors, writers, musicians and artists.

The show started long before any of the current cast was in Red Octopus and before a few of them were born. With timeless favorites like Santa-man, Fruitcake, Frosty, the Choirs and the Pagans on Bobsleds song, this show will also feature new material from The Old Lady, Hermes the Elf and a special tribute to Santa. So we invite everyone to come celebrate twenty-five years of Pagans on Bobsleds this holiday season!

The cast includes Alli Clark, Lesley Dancer, Josh Doering, Scott Dombroski, Drew Ellis, Sam Grubb, Jeremiah Herman, Anderson Penix, Evan Tanner, Jason Thompson and Jason Willey with special help from Michael Goodbar, Luke Rowlan and Christina Wang.

For more information please contact Red Octopus Theater at (501) 291-3896, or RedOctopusTheater@gmail.com. Red Octopus is also online at www.redoctopustheater.com. To contact The PUBLIC Theatre, call 374-PLAY.

Pagans on Bobsleds XXIV: One More Splash! pays tribute to late, great Sandy Baskin

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ROT Pagans SandyPagans on Bobsleds XXIV: One More Splash! is newest installment in the long running holiday tradition for Red Octopus Theater. Pagans on Bobsleds XXIV: One More Splash! will run December 10-12, 2015 at The PUBLIC Theatre, located at 616 Center Street, in downtown Little Rock, AR.  Doors will open at 7:30PM and the show will start at 8:00PM. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens, military and students.  Tickets are general admission, no reservations and there will be refreshments available.  The show is recommended for mature audiences, child tickets are $490.

Pagans on Bobsleds XXIV: One More Splash! a memorial to Sandy Baskin, long time head writer and director of Red Octopus Theater, who passed away earlier this year.  There is no adequate way to measure the influence Sandy Baskin had on the central Arkansas performing arts community and countless actors in her 3 decades of performing, writing and directing.  Sandy Baskin performed with Red Octopus theater for over 20 years and for much of that time was the head writer and director of countless live sketch comedy shows, short films and other performances.  Ms. Baskin may have left this plane of existence, but she will always be the head redhead in Red Octopus.

This year, Pagans on Bobsleds, the long running Red Octopu holiday tradition, will be a greatest hits of Sandy’s  favorites including Fauzio’s, The Nutcracker Suite, Elves What Woo, The Old Lady, They’re Having Eggnog, Devil Hound, Santaman, Fruitcake and many more. Unfortunately, due to her passing, Sandy really left the other Octopi in a lurch for a funny lady with a red bouffant that can cuss like a sailor.  That role is in a lot of these sketches, but  Red Octopus thought, the only thing to do without Sandy Baskin, was to make everyone try to fill her comedy shoes.  It will take a cast of 12 including Frank Butler, Alli Clark, Brian Chambers, Sarah Cunningham, Lesley Dancer, Michael Goodbar, Jeremiah Herman, Nichole Henry, Anderson Penix, Luke Rowlan, Brittany Sparkles, Evan Tanner, Jason Thompson and Jason Willey

Current Executive Director of Red Octopus, Jason Willey said, “Sandy loved hanging out with her people and often she’d say she was just going to have “one more splash” before we called it a night. That usually turned into another hour and a lot of laughs. Everyone in Red Octopus will miss having one more splash with Baskin.  We thought, that’s what this show should be for Red Octopus and our fans, one last splash, for Baskin.”

Red Octopus Theater looks forward to seeing all our friends and fans for Pagans on Bobsleds XXIV: One More Splash, a tribute to the one and only Sandy Baskin.

For more information please contact Jason Willey, Executive Director, Red Octopus Theater at (501) 291-3896, or RedOctopusTheater@gmail.com. Red Octopus is also online atwww.redoctopustheater.com.

To contact The PUBLIC Theatre, call 374-PLAY.

 

Have a Blast with Summer Oven presented by Red Octopus Theater

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Members of the cast rehearse “Free Yoga” a sketch for Red Octopus Theater’s upcoming Summer Oven sketch comedy show.

Members of the cast rehearse “Free Yoga” a sketch for Red Octopus Theater’s upcoming Summer Oven sketch comedy show.

Summer Oven, the new original sketch comedy show by Red Octopus Theater, will run August 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 at The PUBLIC Theater, located at 616 Center Street, in downtown Little Rock, AR.  Doors will open at 7:30PM and the show will start at 8:00PM.  Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens, military and students and are available before the show. There are no online ticket sales or reservations. There will be refreshments available.  The show is recommended for mature audiences and child tickets are $567, plus a lock of hair.

August in Arkansas makes you want to kiss the person that invented air conditioning and drink your own weight in sweet tea.  Naturally, Summer Oven is about Arkansas’s oppressive summer heat and all the crazy it brings out in us.

Several new sketches planned for the stage include “Mr. Science”, the story of a local kids science show host who has reached his breaking point with baking soda volcanoes.  “An Apology for Hulk Hogan” where a wrestling fan tries to apologize to everyone Hulk Hogan has insulted.  “Free Yoga,” the sign says free, but what about your soul?  Also “Humid Hair, the newest beauty trend and “The Sweat Report”, Arkansas’s newest web weather forecast.

“We don’t want to remind you it’s hot, we want to make you laugh while you sweat,” said Jason Willey, Red Octopus Executive Producer.

The cast includes Sandy Baskin, Brian Chambers, Lesley Dancer, Drew Ellis, Michael Goodbar, Sam Grubb, Jeremiah Herman, Evan Tanner, and David Weatherly. Performances are open to all ages, but recommended for mature audiences because of adult language and situations, again, child tickets are $567 and a lock of hair.

Red Octopus Theater has been performing original, live sketch comedy in central Arkansas since 1991.

For more information please contact Red Octopus Theater at (501) 291-3896, or RedOctopusTheater@gmail.com. Red Octopus is also online at www.redoctopustheater.com.

9 TO 5 closes out 59th season of CTLR

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9to5musicalWhat better way to end your 59th season than with a show with a 5 and a 9?  The Community Theatre of Little Rock presents the musical 9 to 5 through June 21st at The Studio Theatre (320 West 7th Street).

Performances are at 7:30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings and at 2pm on Sunday afternoons.

9 to 5 is written by Patricia Resnick, who co-wrote the movie screenplay, with songs by Dolly Parton.  Parton received a Tony nomination for her score.

Set in the late 1970s this hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era is outrageous, thought-provoking, and even a little romantic.  Pushed to the boiling point, three female co-workers concoct a plan to get even with their boss. In a hilarious turn of events, Violet, Judy and Doralee live out their wildest fantasy – giving their boss the boot! While Hart remains “otherwise engaged,” the women give their workplace a dream makeover, taking control of the company that had always kept them down.

The cast is led by Bridget Davis, Becky McAlister and Karena White as the main trio of women working hard to get ahead in the workplace. They are joined by Duane Jackson as the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot of a boss from Hell and Cheryl Troillett as his lackey.  Others in the cast include Chuck Massey, Chase Cundell, Jeremiah Herman, Leon Baggett, Rachel Garrett Bland, Mark Burbank, Jerry Davidson, Katy Fraley, Amanda Garrison Gilmore, Shann Nobels, Tanner Oglesby, Michael Pete, Jennifer Jackson Restum, Hannah M. Sawyer, Danny Troillett, Bruce Ward, Olivia Witcher and Jerry Woods.

The production is directed by Justin Pike with Jo Murry serving as music director.

Final Weekend of JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE at Weekend Theater

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Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at Little Rock's The Weekend TheaterThis weekend affords the final three times to see August Wilson’s powerful award winning play Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Weekend Theater.  The show is playing tonight, Saturday night, and a Sunday afternoon matinee has been added as well!

Directed by Meredith Bagby Fettes, this post-Civil War era play depicts the migration of African-Americans, from the rural South to the urban North, as they meet in a 1911 Pittsburgh boardinghouse. Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, by the author of The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars and Fences, is an installment in the author’s series chronicling black life in each decade of this century.

The play uses realistic language and dialogue representative of the day, with each denizen of the boardinghouse owning a specific rhythm and speech pattern and carrying a different relationship to a past of slavery as well as to an urban present.

The characters include the proprietors, an eccentric clairvoyant with a penchant for old country voodoo, a young homeboy up from the South and a mysterious stranger who is searching for his wife. The Weekend Theater production cast includes seasoned alums, as well is newcomers to the stage.

The cast includes Margaret Pierson-Bates Herald, Jeremiah Herman, Charles Holloway, Diondre’ Wright, London Jones, Shanika Thompson, Paul Person, Drew Ellis, Pamela Reed, Candrice Jones and Ebon Jones

Curtain time is 7:30 pm. The Box Office (and the theater) opens one (1) hour prior to curtain. The House opens 30 minutes prior to curtain.

There will be a brief talk-back with the cast after each Saturday performance. This plays contains some simulated violence and adult language.